--- David Stern: With the 1st pick, the Philadelphia 76ers select Allen Iverson. --- SAS:Stephen A. Smith back in the house on Quite Frankly with my man Allen Iverson. I want you all to look at these numbers here. This is Allen Iverson, his season average since 1996-97 season. He leads the league in scoring, 27.4 points per game, beating Shaq, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, and Tim Duncan. You see a stat like that, what comes to your mind? AI: (sigh) SAS: What comes to your mind? AI: (seriously)I love my ma. (Aud. laugh, applause） SAS: I love my mama too. But, explain the parellel of looking at looking at your scoring average and telling me how that has a lot to do with moms. AI: She got me here. My mom told me one day that I could be anything I wanted to be. And I literally took that for what it was.(laugh) Like, I really took it like that coz she told me. I mean I just believe what my mom tell me. And, I was a football player, dog. That's all I did. I was playing footbal... SAS: Wait, I was gonna ask you. Why you played football? Why you end up playing basketball instead of football? More money? AI: (embarrassed)I was put in jail. SAS: Oh... AI: I mean, I was recruited by every college in the country, football and basketball. When that happened, when the smoke cleared, nobody was there but coach Thomp... SAS: But do you think you would've ended up picking the NFL over the NBA? AI: That was my sport, man. That's it. That's what I do. SAS: Hey, do you know the 76ers have something on their website where there's like 26 different arrows, pointing to your body parts where you've been injured? 26! AI: (quietly) I'm a warrior, dawg. SAS: Well we KNOW that! (Applause) AI: ..a warrior..I'm a warrior. SAS: Do you feel like there's a lack of warriors in the NBA today? AI: Yeah! SAS: What's the reason for that, man? AI: I don't know. I mean, you can have all the talent in the world, but you don't have no heart, man. Ain't no need to use that stuff on the basketball court. You CANNOT play basketball if you are soft, and basketball players know what I'm talking about. Like , I play hard every night and I get beat up or whatever, but you don't see me playing the game dirty. Like I don't get in fights with dudes and stuff like that. Don't nobody put their hands on me and I don't put my hands on nobody. SAS: There's a couple of times when you're almost going to. AI: Yeah, coz I was really provoked. Like, I'm a stand-up guy on the basketball court. Playing hard don't mean playing dirty. Like giving elbows, knocking people's teeth off. That ain't playing hard. Playing hard is, the ball right there, and you closer than me, but if I dive, I can get it. You know what I am saying? That's playing hard. And that's what I do, every night. So if some guy see that ball on the ground and be like, "Nah, I'm not messing my knees up, jumping onto the ground for this ball, and look, I'll do it the next play, maybe, or next game, something"---no, every game , dog. SAS: I have a question. When you look at the league right now you think about your heart, does anybody compare? Is anybody out there in the NBA that you can point to that you feel is on your level in terms of heart, and if who, name them. I wanna know who they are. AI: Yeah I think...Shaq off the top...like, it ain't even a question. Shaq, LeBron, T-Mac...man, Larry Hughes...I got a lot of them on my team. There's a lot of guys. Vince, I mean, people say Vince don't got heart, man, let me play with Vince. SAS: I think about the maturation process and obviously, having known you for years, there's obviously one that has taken place. When you reach out to the LeBron James, to the Carmelo Anthonies, to the Dwayne Wades, coz I know you have reached out to them... AI: (A bit embarrassed)Those dudes got heart too, by the way. SAS: I know, I know. What are the kind of things you tell them right now, based on your own personal experience? AI: Learn from what I did wrong. Learn from everything Allen Iverson do that rubbed everybody the wrong way. If you don't want go through what I go through right now, as far as being "the bad guy" in the NBA and all that stuff, be fake, then. That's what I tell them, just be fake. SAS: But you're not fake. AI: And I'm not gonna do it. I'd rather not be in the NBA. I'm not living my life like that. SAS: But why tell them to do that if that's what you... AI: No, I'm telling them to do whatever it takes to make them successful. I always let LeBron know--off the top--"Dog, they love you right now, they love you right now. But please believe me. The first incident, the first time something happened--they are waiting , man, they waiting." Just like, I hate to bring it up, the other situation, with Kobe.. SAS: Kobe Bryant? AI: Yes, all this time he has been the No. 1 man, the perfect man in everybody's heart. He was the No. 1 man... SAS: You do know that people kinda blame you in this sense, coz you were the one seen on ESPN that said "Well, that was Kobe. He's pure as gold. He must have done something." AI: He must have done nothing. I don't know if he did nothing and I don't think he did nothing, honestly. I don't think he did nothing. I know he didn't do that, in my heart. But he found out that Kobe Bryant is Kobe Bryant, just like everybody else in the world. If he didn't do what he did, look what he went through. Every black man go through that--not doing something, didn't have to go to jail, find out "OK, he didn't do it. Let him out." SAS: I was going to ask you. Is that a black or white thing? Is an athlete thing? Is that a rich/poor thing? AI: I'm not that type of dude. I don't talk on camera about stuff like that, because I can't be as real as I want to about this situation. But I know is: you are you. You are who you are. Don't try to act like someone you're not, and I'm not saying that he did. Kobe Bryant is who Kobe Bryant is, but these people want him to be the Kobe Bryant that they want him to be. And it ain't right you know. Kobe Bryant is his own man. He only live one time. People are killing this man, talking about his image, or whatever. I mean, the man made a mistake. How-ever he made a mistake, he's made a mistake, and let's go on. And I'm not saying, the situation with the girl, like--the hell with her--like, I have a daughter, and my heart go out to her... SAS: How many kids do you have? Tell the audience. AI: I have..I have a... SAS: Tell the world. AI: I have a 10-year-old daughter. I've a 7-year-old son. I have a son that's about to turn two, uh, in August. And I have one on the way that's on the way to the emergency room right now because the baby wasn't moving today. So, I got four kids. But like I said, a girl, a woman, that's the most precious thing in the world. And that whole subject is touchy, Steve, because ain't nothing worse than a rapist and a child molester. A rapist and a child molester, that's the worst thing you can be. You can call me a murderer. Somebody come into my house, then I'll get it done. But a rapist and a child molester, that's the worst thing you can be, coz there is no reason for that. There's a reason for other things. There's no reason for those things. SAS: We're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we'll have some more questions. Steven A. Smith on Quite Frankly with Allen Iverson. Be right back. --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.109.224.28